Mitch Steele on Stone’s Plans for Their Berlin Brewery

Stone Brewing Co. recently announced plans to establish a brewery in Berlin, making them the first American craft brewery to independently open up shop in Europe. (Earlier this year, Brooklyn Brewery and Carlsberg partnered and opened a brewery in Stockholm, Sweden.) I asked Mitch Steele, Brewmaster at Stone, about their plans for their Berlin brewery. Although all the details have not been ironed out, he was able to share some information.

Questions from Beer and Wine Journal

Answers from Mitch Steele, Stone Brewing Co. Brewmaster

Did the composition of the local water play a role in your decision for the location of the Berlin brewery, or do modern water treatment methods render such considerations moot?

No, the property and its offerings were the most important parts in making our decision. We have evaluated the water supply and we are confident it will work great for our beers.

The future home of the European Stone brewery, a former gasworks in Berlin.

Are you going to brew the same lineup of beers — Arrogant Bastard, Stone IPA, Ruination, etc. — for German beer drinkers, or have a whole new lineup of beers to appeal to local tastes?

We will brew our year-round release beers like Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone IPA and Stone Go To IPA and some special releases.

What’s your first German release going to be?

Has not been exactly determined but the Stone Groundbreaking Collaboration beers will be among the first beers brewed on the brewhouse.

If you brew some of your existing beers, will you adjust the recipes to use German malts and hops, where possible? Also, if you brew some of your existing beers in Berlin, will you try to make the German version exactly like the US version, or will you adapt it to local water, ingredients, etc.?

We will brew our year-round release beers based off of our original recipes. Special releases might include local ingredients but we haven’t thought that far ahead.

Is your German brewhouse going to be as similar as possible to your Escondido brewhouse? Exactly the same?

This hasn’t really been determined. We are looking to have at least a 70 barrel brewhouse, probably bigger that will brew beers for on-site and off-site consumption. We eventually want to distribute our beers brewed in Berlin across Europe.

Will Berlin-brewed Stone beers be imported to the US?

We are brewing our Stone Groundbreaking Collaborations beers in Berlin. You can find more information here, but we are brewing collaboration beers with some of our craft beer brethren and selling the beers through an Indiegogo campaign. Those beers will be shipped from Berlin to the U.S. so the people who purchase them will be able to pick them up.

The Stone gargoyle already gazes upon the capital of Germany.

You’ve done many collaborations with US brewers, and with other breweries abroad, do you think German brewers will embrace this idea? Is collaborative brewing even “a thing” in Germany?

Yes! Our announcement has been very well received by many of the craft brewers in Berlin and across Europe. Again, our Stone Groundbreaking Collaborations beers will include both domestic and international breweries collaborating with us on beers.

Are you going to make changes to any of your beers so that they conform to the Reinheitsgebot (if they didn’t, for whatever reasons)? (This isn’t a legal requirement anymore, under EU law, but the Reinheitsgebot is certainly a marketing tool for some German brewers.)

No! We always have, and will continue to brew beers the way we want to.

How independent is the Berlin brewery going to be?

We are the first American craft brewer to independently own and operate a brewery in Europe.

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